Yucca Mountain News Clips
Thursday, November 6, 2003
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Senator Harry Reid
November 6, 2003
Reid Successful in Cutting Yucca Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. - For the ninth consecutive year, Nevada´s Senator Harry Reid has succeeded in cutting the Yucca Mountain budget. Reid is the ranking member on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the Yucca Mountain budget.
“I was able to cut almost $200 million from what was a record high budget request, even though the House Republican Leadership and President Bush have made jamming Yucca Mountain through as quickly as possible a top priority,’ Reid said. “I will continue cutting the budget at every opportunity because my highest priority remains the health and safety of Nevadans.’
“I have cut the budget every year, for nearly ten years and while I continue to do that, Nevada´s legal team will continue to fight an aggressive and effective case that will demonstrate in a court of law the scientific and safety shortfalls of the Yucca Mountain project,’ added Reid.
In President Bush´s FY04 budget, he and the Department of Energy requested $591 million. Reid was able to cut that number to $425 million in the Senate version of the Energy and Water bill, but the House of Representatives raised it to a record high $765 million. After weeks of difficult negotiations, Sen. Reid was able to set the final budget number at $580 million. Reid was also able to obtain $5 million for the state of Nevada and local governments who will be affected by the Yucca Mountain site.
The Republican chairman of the subcommittee, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) said, “the administration applied great pressure on us to get the Yucca Mountain funding to its budget request or at least the House level. But Senator Reid maneuvered us into a situation where we were unable to reach either of those funding levels. This conference has been very tough, but I believe we have come up with a good bill that meets the nation´s most urgent needs.’
Sen. Reid has fought the Yucca Mountain for decades. “More and more scientific evidence points to what should be common sense, that the Yucca Mountain project is a reckless and dangerous plan,’ said Reid. “There are gaping safety holes at every level of this plan. These last few weeks have been particularly bad for the Yucca Mountain project. Top Air Force brass have objected to DOE´s plan to transport tens of thousands of shipments of nuclear waste will through areas where jet fighters are flying, an independent scientific board has just recently released that the canisters to store the waste will corrode and a leading geologist has determined that volcanic activity at Yucca Mountain is much higher than anyone ever thought. And, last week a court of appeals ruled that the law firm representing DOE had serious conflicts of interest, possibly tainting the work done on the Yucca Mountain project.’
“Unfortunately, DOE and this administration are apparently immune to science, common sense and the notion that health and safety must be our highest priority,’ Reid added.
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State of Nevada
November 06, 2003
Yucca Mountain Update
Information Alert
New Survey Shows Strong Yucca Mountain Opposition
65 percent of respondents support continued state opposition to repository plans
Results of a recent survey conducted on behalf of the State of Nevada show that nearly two-thirds of respondents believe the state should not accept monetary promises from the federal government in exchange for development of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The same survey of 401 Nevadans, conducted between Oct. 4 and 22 by Northwest Survey and Data Services of Eugene, Ore., found that 65 percent of respondents support the state´s five lawsuits against the federal government in a bid to derail the project.
“These [survey] results should put to rest any notion that Nevadans are prepared to give up the fight and meekly accept a project that is both unsafe and unnecessary,’ said Robert Loux, executive director of the Governor´s Agency for Nuclear Projects.
Despite intensive efforts over the past year on the part of the commercial nuclear power industry to soften opposition to Yucca Mountain and to convince Nevadans of its inevitability, 65 percent of survey respondents favor continuing opposition to the project and rejecting any negotiations with the federal government for benefits in exchange for going along with the project.
That is almost exactly the same percentage of Nevadans (65.1 percent) who favored continuing to oppose the project in June, 2002. The survey of 401 randomly selected Nevadans has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the survey found that by a two-to-one margin, Nevadans do not believe the U.S. Department of energy (DOE) can be trusted to live up to any benefits agreements it might make with the state, with 64.3 percent saying the DOE cannot be trusted.
The survey also found that more than 75 percent of the state´s residents would vote against the Yucca Mountain project if afforded the opportunity.
“When you look at these survey findings and compare them with past survey results, the people of Nevada are sending a clear and consistent message to DOE and the commercial nuclear power industry,’ Loux said. “They are saying unequivocally, ‘We don´t want this facility and we will not be fooled by enticements to cut deals.´’
Loux pointed out that opposition to Yucca Mountain among Nevadans has remained at 70 percent or more since the surveys began in 1989. During that time, Nevadans have been just as consistent in opposing any deals that would weaken the state´s opposition, despite all the money and public relations resources the nuclear industry has poured into Nevada.
“In the early 1990s, the industry spent millions of dollars on a statewide media campaign aimed at convincing Nevadans that Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste are good for them,’ Loux said. “In their strategic plan to win at Yucca Mountain called ‘The Nevada Initiative´ the nuclear industry explained that in order to get Yucca Mountain for a repository, two things needed to happen. First, according to the plan, Nevadans needed to be convinced that the project is inevitable, and the state´s political leaders must be brought to the negotiating table. By negotiating for so called benefits, the state will have given up its opposition, which is the only way Yucca Mountain becomes a reality.’
That campaign was a colossal failure, Loux said, “but they´ve nevertheless kept pouring money into Nevada over the years to try to convince the public that the project is evitable. It´s pretty clear that Nevadans aren´t buying what the industry and DOE have to sell.’
In addition to reaffirming strong opposition to Yucca Mountain and support for continuing the fight in general, the survey also shows that Nevadans overwhelmingly support the State´s lawsuits aimed at stopping the project in the courts (66 percent) and the State water engineer´s denial of water permits for the Yucca project (63 percent).
People in Nevada continue to view Yucca Mountain as risky to public health, safety and the Nevada economy. Respondents overwhelmingly identified rail and truck shipments to the repository as the greatest risk (82.6 percent rated this as moderate to high risk). The second highest risk is seen as the risk of radioactive contamination from the repository (77.8 percent), followed by the risk of property value losses to homes and businesses (76.8 percent), adverse health effects for Nevada residents (68.6 percent), risk of damaging Nevada's reputation (63.8 percent), risk of economic damage to major Nevada industries (60.6 percent), and risk of loss of public revenues due to declines in tourists and visitors (60.4 percent).
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 06, 2003
Congress settles on budget for Yucca Mountain
Figure $11 million less than Bush requested
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Congress settled Wednesday on a new budget for the Yucca Mountain Project that was $11 million less than what President Bush requested.
Officials said $580 million designated for 2004 includes as much as $70 million for spent fuel transportation, the largest earmark to date for a key component the Energy Department had put on the back burner in recent years.
The funding approved by a House-Senate conference committee was acceptable to the Bush administration, the lead House negotiator said.
"DOE said they could live with $580 million, so that was what they got," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio.
Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said $580 million is the largest amount ever set aside by Congress in a given year for the planned high-level nuclear waste repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"We plan to keep moving forward and spending every dime wisely," Davis said.
Differences over the Yucca Mountain Project had been one of the holdups to a $27.3 billion bill that funds the Energy Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and parts of the Interior Department in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
A series of deals reached this week on Yucca Mountain and other contentious issues clears the way for Congress to grant final passage to the energy and water bill in the next week or so.
On Yucca Mountain, negotiators compromised between $765 million approved by the House in a Hobson bill earlier this year, and $450 million in a related Senate bill.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a key negotiator and longtime foe of the Yucca Mountain Project, once again tried to minimize project funding. He said it was not easy to get deeper cuts this year out of Hobson, who had declared the nuclear waste project a top priority.
But at a negotiator meeting Wednesday, Reid said the Energy Department is plagued by "distrust and incompetence" and that the Yucca Mountain Project will struggle no matter now much money Congress gives to the Energy Department.
"Yucca Mountain will not come to be," Reid declared.
Bob Loux, director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said besides fiscal matters, the Energy Department faces unanswered science questions and ongoing legal problems that threaten its progress in Nevada.
Besides settling on a spending level, negotiators also agreed to strip provisions in the energy bill that had directed the Energy Department how to manage sections of the repository program in the coming year, officials said.
Among other directives, the House bill had told the department to choose a railroad shipping corridor to the Nevada site within 60 days, and suggested up to $30 million be set aside for grants to the state of Nevada and counties.
The final bill appropriates $5 million in Yucca Mountain oversight funding to the state of Nevada and local counties, Reid's office said. It also steers $3.2 million to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, an independent science panel that has played an increasingly important role in reviewing the program.
On transportation, Energy Department budget documents indicate money would be spent next year to develop an environmental impact study of railroad routes in Nevada and to begin procuring "long lead" designs for nuclear waste shipping casks and a cask maintenance facility.
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Knoxville News Sentinel
At environmental sites, Knox firms may clean up
Nuclear storage facility near Vegas among jobs on way, contractors hear
By Rebecca Ferrar, ferrarr@knews.com
Don Pearman, program manager of the Yucca Mountain Project, called on 300 contractors gathered at the Knoxville Convention Center this week to help build the nation's first long-term repository for nuclear waste.
Consultants, engineers and construction-company representatives met Tuesday and Wednesday for the Fourth Annual Business Opportunities Conference to hear Pearman and managers of other federal installations, including those at Oak Ridge, tell them about opportunities for contracting jobs and how to go about getting those jobs.
The East Tennessee Environmental Business Association, which promotes local companies and assists them in efforts to acquire government contracts, sponsors the conference.
East Tennessee companies were _joined at the conference by contractors from other Southeastern states.
Pearman, strategic program manager of Bechtel National Inc., which has the contract to build the Yucca Mountain project, explained the status of that job.
President Bush has signed a resolution allowing Yucca Mountain to prepare the application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license _to begin construction.
That construction, Pearman said, will mean a lot of work for a lot of contractors.
"We're talking about the spent fuel all over the United States," Pearman said. "If we are successful, we have to close a whole lot of sites of spent nuclear fuel."
There are 131 sites across the nation, including those at TVA nuclear plants, other nuclear plants and defense sites where spent nuclear fuel rods and other nuclear wastes are being stored temporarily. The Yucca Mountain site is to be the permanent burial site for all the waste.
"There will be lots and lots of opportunities and literally thousands of people out there building facilities," Pearman said. "There will be dozens of underground tunnels."
Yucca Mountain is in the desert 110 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Revonda Cosby-Moody of Pacific Western Technologies, an Oak Ridge company, said it would be interested in the Yucca Mountain project and other contracts presented at the conference.
"It brings together under one roof multiple agencies that offer many opportunities," she said. "A great part of what we do fits the scope of what we are hearing."
Her company already has done some environmental work at the Yucca Mountain site, she added.
Sid du Mont, an Oak Ridge consultant for PermaFix Environmental Services of Dayton, Ohio, also said Yucca Mountain was one of the many presentations at the conference that would appeal to the attendees.
The conference "helps in several ways," he said. The presenters "talk about where their programs are now, what's new and upcoming, what kind of business opportunities might be coming up. They also help us with their Web sites so we know what to look for."
The other advantages, he said, are the exhibit hall and the chance to "renew friendships" in the environmental-business community.
Jessie Roberson, assistant secretary of energy for environmental management at the U.S. Department of Energy, committed to "continue to involve small businesses in our clean-up programs and environmental remediation. We know we need the support of the contract community to achieve our goals."
Gerald Boyd, manager of DOE's Oak Ridge operation, also stressed the "continuing opportunities for work at Oak Ridge" on the accelerated cleanup of the 34,000-acre reservation.
"East Tennessee is a great place to be because there are so many great environmental clean-up companies," Boyd said. Boyd and others stressed the main priority of any contractor should be safety.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, DOE's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of Nashville and the General Services Administration also made presentations.
Business writer Rebecca Ferrar may be reached at 865-342-6357.
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Las Vegas SUN
November 05, 2003
Lawmakers earmark $580 million for Yucca
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
WASHINGTON -- Senate and House negotiators agreed to give the Yucca Mountain dump $580 million next year, an increase of $120 million from the current fiscal year.
The bulk of the money -- $525 million -- will go toward preparing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing application for the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The compromise came after widely varying requests and lengthy negotiations between the House and Senate.
The House passed a plan that included $765 million, with proponents saying that more money was needed to make up for past funding cuts.
The Senate passed a budget with $425 million set aside for the project.
President Bush's budget asked for $591 million.
"When we are finished, we have a number that the experts ... will say will keep the program right on schedule and fund the program as required," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee chairman.
Negotiators still had some final technical questions on the bill and it was expected to be out of committee later today. It was unclear when it would get final passage and go to the president.
House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Chairman David Hobson, R-Ohio, named Yucca Mountain his top priority for funding in the bill's early stages.
After the compromise passed, Hobson said, "DOE said they could live with $580 (million) so that's what they got."
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. said today that "getting (Hobson) below the figure the president asked for was not easy."
Reid is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that creates the Yucca Mountain budget each year and a member of the conference committee. He annually cuts the Yucca budget.
He said today that the high level in the House bill took away from other programs the president requested: "It was a hard-fought compromise."
The administration -- and the nuclear industry -- lobbied hard for $765 million saying anything less would slow down the program since it is never fully funded to the president's request.
The Energy Department and the Nuclear Energy Institute did not have comment on the bill this morning.
Reid said he "cut almost $200 million from what was a record high budget request, even though the House Republican leadership and President Bush have made jamming Yucca Mountain through as quickly as possible a top priority."
Reid said at the conference committee meeting today that this is the first time the bill has money dealing specifically with transportation studies on nuclear waste.
He said trying to figure out how to get "the most poisonous substance known to man to Yucca Mountain" safely would eventually stop the project.
Domenici said early on the Yucca budget would be a "major point of contention" as the bill moved through Congress.
"The House wanted to move much more rapidly than the Senate on Yucca," Domenici said, adding he though it was a "pretty fair compromise."
Reid said he did not think DOE could spend all the money allocated.
"It's pure gluttony," he said.
He said during the meeting that the department "has done a poor job" running the Yucca Mountain project, which has created "a lot of mistrust" for the agency in Nevada.
"Yucca Mountain will never come to be," Reid said.
In 2003 the Energy Department requested $527 million for the program and later asked for an additional $66 million after Congress approved the site. The House Appropriations Committee approved $525 million. The Senate put the funding at $336 million and a conference committee came to a compromise of $460 million.
Language singling out transportation routes for the nuclear waste shipment to not go through Las Vegas was removed.
The Yucca funding comes on the heels of two Illinois lawmakers' efforts to change the Yucca Mountain funding formulas.
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., circulated a "dear colleague" letter to other lawmakers Monday listing how much states with nuclear power plant have paid into the Nuclear Waste fund, a federally created fund that collects money made for the project.
Nevada does not have any nuclear power plants.
They introduced a bill last week to avoid the annual battle for funds within the appropriations bill.
"The project has a long history of funding cuts driven in part because the program must compete for scarce discretionary spending resources despite its unique income source," the lawmakers wrote. "Over the last 10 years, appropriations have been cut by more than $700 million below budget requests, and by $134 million in (fiscal year) 2003 alone."
The industry argues that utilities -- and ratepayers -- have put in about $20 billion into the fund since its creation in 1983 to help finance a permanent place for nuclear waste, but close to $14 billion still sits in the account waiting to be spent on the project.
If their bill gets approved, Yucca would be guaranteed at least $725 million from the fund. Anything over that would be approved by Congress. The guaranteed money would not pit it against other programs for funding.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., is composing her own letter to send to her fellow lawmakers against the legislation. An aide said she wants to be sure they hear both sides of the story.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 05, 2003
Correction: A story Tuesday about Air Force leaders concerned about the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository affecting military readiness activities incorrectly stated the area of the Nevada Test and Training Range, commonly known as Nellis Air Force Range. The range is 4,562 square miles.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
November 05, 2003
Air Force officials warn of training problems with Yucca
Associated Press
Las Vegas — Air Force leaders are warning Congress that training might be crimped at Nellis Air Force Base if radioactive waste is shipped across the bombing range to a nuclear dump in the Nevada desert.
Restricting training flights to allow shipments of nuclear waste through the Nevada Test and Training Range to Yucca Mountain would be “untenable,’ Air Force Secretary James Roche and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper said in a Sept. 11 letter to leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees.
The letter was prompted by a House bill that directs the Energy Department to designate a route within 60 days for nuclear waste shipments to the proposed repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The Air Force leaders described the 1,375-square mile Nellis range as a “national treasure,’ that permits large-scale training and the testing of new weapons such as the unmanned Predator spy plane and the F-22 Raptor.
The range abuts the Nevada Test Site, which encompasses Yucca Mountain, picked last year as the site to entomb the nation´s highly radioactive waste.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met Sept. 10 with Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley about Nellis training and Yucca Mountain, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said.
Moseley and other Pentagon representatives “articulated concerns about routes going through the training facility,’ Finn said.
Jumper delivered the same message in a Sept. 8 meeting with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a Reid spokeswoman said.
Bob Loux, director of Nevada´s anti-Yucca state Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the Air Force has expressed concern for years about the possible effect of the Yucca Mountain project on Nellis training.
Energy Department officials have said they doubt air traffic would prove to be an obstacle to the repository.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
November 05, 2003
Guinn´s chief of staff to take California post
Anjeanette Damon
Gov. Kenny Guinn´s chief of staff is leaving Nevada to become one of California Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger´s top policy-makers, positioning her as a valuable political ally for the Silver State.
Marybel Batjer, Guinn´s top aide since December 2000, will leave Friday for California less than two weeks after she visited with Schwarzenegger to discuss Nevada-California issues, she said.
“The opportunity is huge,’ Batjer said. “California is the fifth largest economy. Nevada needs to have a healthy California, and the country needs to have a healthy California.’
Guinn said he won´t expect Batjer to create a policy on Indian gaming that would necessarily be favorable to Nevada. The expansion of Indian gaming in California is the most pressing interstate issue affecting Nevada´s economy.
“We shouldn´t expect Marybel to go there and influence what would be best for Nevada in the gaming future of California,’ Guinn said at a press conference Tuesday after telling his cabinet of Batjer´s resignation.
“That´s going to be a policy decision made at the very top level. Their decisions about Indian gaming´s future will be made in light of what´s best for California, not what´s best for Nevada.’
But as Schwarzenegger´s cabinet secretary, Batjer will be a valuable contact for Nevada, making it easier for the governor´s staff to negotiate with California´s bureaucracy, Guinn said.
Communication between the states on such joint issues as Lake Tahoe, energy policy, interstate freeways and economic development will be improved, he said.
“It´s about time California needed Nevada´s help. So we´re going to give them some help,’ Guinn said.
Batjer said she has not been a part of discussions on Schwarzenegger´s Indian gaming policies.
“I´m far out of the inside information and would hesitate to even comment on where they are right now,’ she said.
Gov. Gray Davis was in the middle of negotiating gaming compacts with 96 tribes when voters recalled him Oct 7. The formal agreements dictate such things as how many slot machines or table games are allowed and whether a percentage of revenue would be paid to the state.
Davis had reached agreements with four tribes, but Schwarzenegger has said he will renegotiate all of them. Schwarzenegger has yet to spell out his policy on Indian gaming, but said during the campaign he would support a 25 percent revenue-sharing requirement to help with the state´s budget shortfall.
“I would hope that expansion wouldn´t be in the full gaming opportunities like craps tables and table games,’ Guinn said.
During her tenure, Batjer was instrumental in Guinn´s “flat-budgeting’ policy to address the revenue shortfalls that became the center of the heated battle over taxes during the 2003 Legislature. She also helped craft Guinn´s proposed medical malpractice legislation and coordinated the state´s fight against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.
Batjer said she will rely on her experience working on Nevada´s budget crunch to help address California´s deficit.
“It´s going to be tough,’ she said. “We´ve got a lot of tough issues in California. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a very interesting man and I think he´s got a tremendous amount of energy that he is going to devote to California.’
Batjer is a fourth-generation Nevadan who graduated from Carson High School and is the daughter of a former Nevada Supreme Court justice. She later worked as a policy adviser in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.
Batjer worked for former California Gov. Pete Wilson´s administration as an undersecretary for the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and chief deputy director for the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing in the mid-1990s.
Wilson has been a key Schwarzenegger adviser.
Batjer met with several of Schwarzenegger´s advisers at his Brentwood, Calif., home Oct. 25 and 26 to discuss interstate issues. She said the job offer was not mentioned during the meetings.
Guinn said Schwarzenegger called him Oct. 28 about hiring Batjer.
Guinn´s deputy chief of staff, Michael Hillerby, will replace Batjer. He will be paid his same salary of $111,000, which Batjer received.
Hillerby, who will be Guinn´s fourth chief of staff since he took office five years ago, was named deputy chief of staff in March 2001. Before that, he served as the state´s cultural affairs director and the city of Reno´s arts and culture manager from 1997 to 1999.
Hillerby said he doesn´t expect major changes will occur. His focus will remain on the current state budget and planning for the 2005-06 budget.
“The transition really is going to be seamless,’ he said. “We´re not going to make any radical changes.’
Hillerby said he doesn´t know of any other Nevada officials planning to leave for California.
“We´ve told Arnold poaching season is over. You´ve bagged the big trophy,’ he said.
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Pahrump Valley Times
November 5, 2003
Word Games: Media pandering, special interests
Clark County Assemblymember David Parks was attending a meeting of human rights advocates in northern Nevada recently. Parks was the sponsor of legislation creating a non-discrimination policy for employers and he was at the meeting to pick up an award. In the course of the evening, he said, "I'd like to see us erase the term 'same sex'. Dispense with the use of that and use 'same-gender' instead."
He added, "Religious fundamentalists love to hear and use 'same sex.' The word 'sex' alone is a powerful word."
A woman at the meeting who heard Parks said to a friend, "I never thought of that."
She's not the only one. Although words carry a terrific punch, and although they are the tools in trade of reporters, we rarely engage in any self scrutiny of the language we employ in our stories. As a result, we sometimes unwittingly wield words as weapons in the service of one interest group or another.
In Parks' example, the two terms he mentioned, far from being synonyms, are very different. "Sex" is a broad, sweeping term with several meanings. "Gender" is a narrowly defined term with one meaning. Clearly, gender is the more responsible term for journalists to use, but because we don't examine our use of words, we end up doing what one faction wants us to do.
We do the same thing for the casino industry. "Gaming" is a vague term that includes everything from playing checkers for no money to bingo for prizes to blackjack for money. "Gambling" is a much more precise term. It has become even more useful in recent years as "gaming" has come (everywhere but Nevada) to mean computer games.
Some terms we use are disgracefully subjective. For instance, the abortion issue obviously should be defined by abortion. Instead, we have towed lines dictated by the opponents and supporters. Instead of simply describing the two sides as pro-abortion and anti-abortion, we have made "pro-life" and "pro-choice" standard, not because they serve readers but because they serve the factions. And there is a subtext to our use of language for which we refuse to take responsibility. After all, if we, for instance, define one side as pro-life, by implication we are defining the other side as anti-life. That kind of subliminal editorializing is not the kind of conduct in which reporters should engage. By using proper language instead of language chosen by activists, we don't get into that role at all.
It can be difficult negotiating the demands of various special interest groups for language tailored to their needs. Used car dealers do not understand why we don't call their vehicles "pre-owned," mobile home owners don't want their homes called trailers, prison guards want to be called corrections officers, Mormons don't want to be called Mormons, au pairs don't want to be called nannies, the nuclear power industry doesn't want us calling the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump a dump, the Clinton administration softened the legal term "rogue nation" to "state of concern" (on NBC's "The West Wing," Martin Sheen's President Bartlet responded, "No more rogue nations, huh? Well, that was easy"), and for some reason I have never quite fathomed, fireworks show companies don't like fireworks to be called fireworks.
In 1990, after the motion picture industry eliminated the "X" rating for movies in favor of "NC-17," a United Church of Christ spokesperson accused the industry: "As Isaiah says, they are calling evil good." Actually, an industry trade group had neglected to trademark the X rating and adult movie houses loved to apply it to inappropriate films in order to attract moviegoers looking for the good stuff.
There's not much at stake for the public in some of these disputes. But in others, language can do real harm. Ever since the Jonestown massacre, calling a religious group a "cult" can do real damage. Worse yet, according to University of Nevada cult expert James Richardson, the term is nearly always used improperly, applied to groups that are actually sects.
One journalism professor recently told me he dislikes the way the Bush administration applies the term "terrorist" to Iraqi patriots battling U.S. occupation. That reminded me of an interview in which former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin was reminded of his early days as a wanted Irgun terrorist and he responded that he had been a freedom fighter, not a terrorist. I recall that Ronald Reagan used to compare the Nicaraguan contras (who were considered terrorists in many quarters) to the U.S. colonists who revolted against the British.
The same professor called to my attention the way abortion partisans have tried to spin a current issue their way by use of the terms "partial birth abortion" and "late term abortion," both describing the same procedure.
Assemblymember Parks' concern is actually in the process of being addressed in journalism. "Same-gender" is gaining acceptance and "same-sex" is fading. Here are samples: " ... Gay and lesbian groups...praised a Vermont Supreme Court decision that said same-gender couples are..." (Las Vegas Review-Journal). "The bill, he said, would improve respect for same-gender couples" (Las Vegas Sun).
By our language, we define issues, set agendas, and exclude some topics from allowable circles of discourse. It would be nice if we did it with some forethought.
Dennis Myers is a veteran state capital reporter. His column Against the Grain appears here on Wednesdays.
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Pahrump Valley Times
November 5, 2003
North PV residents oppose landfill
By Mark Waite
PVT
Residents of northern Pahrump Valley looked for any cracks in the arguments for a proposed South Johnnie landfill site that could disqualify it from consideration during a workshop at the Community College of Southern Nevada held Monday.
But Nye County environmental consultant Mary Ellen Giampaoli and hydrologist Tom Buqo made the bowl-shaped plateau north of Shadow Mountain seem as solid a site for a future landfill as the quartzite it sits on.
"There's no site in Nye County nobody's going to have opposition to," Buqo told about 20 people in attendance.
Harley Kulkin, who lives north of Roadrunner Road, pledged to fight the proposed site, which lies along a road currently passable only by four-wheel drive up a wash a mile west of Highway 160. Kulkin said Nye County hasn't fulfilled any promises to residents in his area.
"The only thing we're good for is paying taxes," Kulkin said. "Now the only thing we're good for is dumping garbage."
In predicting an upcoming fight, Kulkin said, "The county's going to waste a lot of money trying to put it up there."
The landfill site is in a bowl that's a natural amphitheater that magnifies sound, Kulkin said.
However, when it came to a checklist of criteria that must be met, the South Johnnie site is a suitable location, consultants said. "More than 100 feet from the water table? Check. More than 1,000 feet from a source of surface water? Check. Located away from any airports, wetlands, flood plains and seismic zones? Check," Buqo said.
Buqo, who quickly noted he was the only official hydrologist in the room, said the only concern for wetlands in the area is the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. That comment led resident Sally Devlin to inquire if the dump wouldn't impact the national refuge; Buqo said the landfill would be more than five miles away from it.
"There's no evidence of recent faults," Buqo said. The only earthquake faults in the area are millions of years old, he said.
While some members of the audience disagreed, Buqo said the groundwater flows come down the Spring Mountains to Pahrump Valley, not from the north as Kulkin claimed.
The geology of the area to the north is quartzite, to the south a mixture of quartzite and carbonate rocks, which would be well suited for a landfill, Buqo said.
The landfill is being planned to last 75 years to eliminate the cost of permitting and constructing future landfills, Giampaoli said. Resident Jim Petell said there are hundreds of small lots in the nearby Calvada North subdivision waiting to be developed. But Buqo countered, "Where are you going to put that (landfill) site that's not going to be developed in 75 years?"
The present landfill site on Mesquite Avenue was once in a largely undeveloped area, but now residents have built close to it, Buqo said. "Now we have a landfill sitting deliberately upstream from people's water wells," he added.
When it comes to groundwater flows at the proposed South Johnnie l site, Buqo said, "There's no down gradient receptors. Nobody lives down gradient from this site."
Grant Hudlow, however, felt the Mesquite Avenue landfill site was suitable for future development, with power available. It wouldn't be wise to have a closed landfill in the middle of a city in the future, he said.
But Giampaoli said the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection wouldn't permit expansion of the Mesquite Avenue landfill except into two new cells and a vertical expansion. That expansion will buy the county another five years of landfill life, possibly longer with a recycling program, she said.
Nye County also made a settlement agreement with the Nevada Division of Environment Protection in exchange for expansion of the current landfill, Giampaoli said. "It obligates the county to move forward as quickly as possible to get a new landfill sited and operated," she said.
Hudlow also questioned whether the South Johnnie site north of Shadow Mountain could be a designated a recreational area.
Ken Grubb, a member of the Pahrump Public Lands Advisory Board who lives near Kulkin, said another site should be available, citing 9,000 acres on the bureau's list for disposal in the Pahrump Valley area. Hudlow suggested requesting congressional legislation to get land from the BLM.
Five other landfill sites were originally studied by the county, Giampaoli said: at Lathrop Wells near Gate 510, the entrance to the Yucca Mountain site; just over the pass to Amargosa Valley on West Bell Vista Road where an informal shooting range is now located; across U.S. Highway 95 from the Mercury exit, a site where nuclear protesters call the "Peace Camp"; north of the Johnnie town site and south of the Johnnie town site.
Nye County Commissioners in July 2002 agreed to pursue the Lathrop Wells site because it was the only one already on the BLM list for land disposal, Giampaoli said.
Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines call for building a transfer station if trash has to be hauled more than 15 miles. The new site would be 14 miles north of Highway 372, close enough to avoid building one.
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Pahrump Valley Times
November 5, 2003
Yucca Mountain: DOE loses legal case in wake of scandal
Federal Appeals Court Decision Could Further Delay Establishment of Repository
By Steve Tetreault
PVT Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The Energy Department's bid to establish a nuclear waste repository in Nevada became further mired on Tuesday when a federal appeals court ruled in favor of a New York law firm that was passed over for a lucrative contract.
Attorneys said the ruling by the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could keep DOE in court for six months or more while a federal judge sorts out issues raised in the case filed by LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae LLP.
Joe Egan, a lawyer who has filed multiple lawsuits against the Yucca Mountain Project on behalf of the state of Nevada, said the ruling opens the project to further scrutiny and signals the federal courts might not look favorably on DOE's handling of the repository program.
The ruling "is a very important decision for the state of Nevada because it establishes that the courts are not going to tolerate things that DOE just takes for granted," Egan said.
But Egan and other attorneys who follow the Yucca program said it was not immediately clear what impact the ruling might have on DOE's short-term goal of filing a repository license application by December 2004.
Mike Bauser, associate general counsel for the Nuclear Energy Institute, described the court's action as procedural in nature.
"It all goes to the screen, or the sieve, the department needed to apply in sifting out folks," Bauser said. "It goes to simply whether or not the department dotted all the 'i's' and crossed all the 't's,'" in its contract process.
As to whether the ruling could lead to project delays, Bauser said, "it certainly could but I haven't set any odds."
DOE lawyers "are reviewing the court's decision. Our plan remains to submit a license application to the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) by the end of 2004," department spokesman Joe Davis wrote in an email.
Davis did not respond to further questions.
Ruling unanimously, a three judge panel determined the Energy Department "failed to conduct an adequate examination" before it awarded a $16.5 million legal services contract in 1999 to Winston & Strawn LLP, a Chicago-based firm that had done earlier work on the Yucca program.
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae, whose bid was $3.6 million higher, sued in 2000. It charged Winston's prior work amounted to a conflict of interest that should have been grounds for disqualification.
Later, it was reported that Winston & Strawn had registered with Congress to lobby for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the leading industry organization promoting the Yucca Mountain Project, at the same time it was working for DOE.
Winston & Strawn left the Yucca program in 2001, in the midst of conflict allegations. DOE since then has been without a legal services contractor to help form its complex license application.
"The department knew or should have known that awarding the Yucca Mountain contract to Winston created an apparent conflict of interest for Winston that required further scrutiny," Judge Judith Rogers wrote for the court.
The case was remanded to U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina. He was told to determine whether the Energy Department complied with federal procurement law and department regulations when it awarded the contract.
Urbina also was directed to decide whether DOE should be required to award a new legal contract to LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Outside attorneys said it would be unusual for a judge to order a federal agency to hire but the tone of the ruling suggested to some it might be possible.
The judge also was told to determine whether Nevada's Code of Professional Responsibility, a legal ethics code, might have been violated.
The court decision renewed attention on Winston & Strawn, which had been the subject of an ethics complaint filed by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., with the District of Columbia Bar Association.
Berkley said Tuesday the appeals court ruling "adds even more evidence to allegations that there was a conflict of interest in (Winston & Strawn) working for DOE on Yucca Mountain."
A Winston & Strawn spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Egan said Nevada attorneys plan to challenge the work Winston & Strawn performed during its two years as a Yucca contractor, unless DOE has it redone before filing a license application.
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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